Beware the Euroskeptic's Nirvana Fallacy

I am no friend of the European Union. In an "in/out" referendum in Britain, I would probably lean toward "out." For the U.K., the greatest danger of remaining in the EU is that the rule of law could collapse: There is little democratic accountability in Brussels, and bad policy can hardly ever be reversed.

But those who oppose Britain's membership in the EU often succumb to the nirvana fallacy. They imagine that Brussels is all that stands between the U.K. and an Eden of deregulated government. Sadly, that is not the case, certainly not in the financial sector.